For a dose of humility....have children!!

This is how we are all feeling....









Well so much to say....how to keep it short. We'll start in the middle of last week. We had a wonderful short time with Lorne and Michelle Gale and their 3 cuties, and the day after they headed for home, great-grandma Krapu, aunty De and uncle Michael arrived. Or as Abby would call him..."great-grandpa!" we're not sure where that came from but it sure was funny. The day they arrived we grabbed a fast bite of lunch and headed out to The Ukrainian Cultural Village. I had never been there, and thought they might enjoy it (and I think they really did so that was good). Aunty even got to speak Ukrainian with a few people there. As we were packing to leave, I thought to myself. BUMMER!!!! I am getting a migraine. My symptoms are always the same: A black spot whereever I try to focus and random flashing lights. So I quickly downed 2 extra strength Tylenol and a can of coke. My usual remedy. Didn't work. While the others toured the Village I sat in the van with my eyes closed or leaning out of the van heaving and losing lunch all over the parking lot. Felt better by supper time and M&D treated us all to a yummy supper.

Monday was more bonding time and supper and G&J's. Tuesday we went
out for supper thanks to gramma and had another yummy meal. (We ate lots. Can ya tell?). My kids were HORRIBLE!!! Okay maybe not so bad, but with all the company and the late nights and hot weather and blah blah blah excuse excuse, they had absolutely had it. They could NOT sit still at the restaurant, Chelsea cried the whole time, and I was utterly embaressed.


The next morning I woke up to a very strong smell of something that had to have been somehow excreted from someone's body after first sitting in their acidic insides. Walked into the girls room and there is at least half a pail of puke all over the lower bunk and the floor and the books and everywhere. It was right where Abby had gone to sleep. So I throw Abby in the tub, all the while she is insisting that SHE DIDN'T PUKE LAST NIGHT. Well when Hayley gets up I noticed puke on her face. I asked why she didn't wake me up. She said " I just moved up to the top bunk." GROSSS!!! But thanks Hayley for letting mom sleep. I figure it's from an overabundance of JUNK! So we are veggying it for several days now. She had a birthday party on Tuesday and had chicken and fries and pizza and homemade icecream and cake. Then we picked her up and went out for supper. I think I'd vomit if I ate all that too!!!


Today we went to the grocery store. I was standing beside some man looking at shampoo and Hayley yells out " HEY MOM ARE YOU STILL BLEEDING?? DO YOU NEED SOME TAMPONS??" No Hayley. Thank you very much though.

Then we got outside and Abby lifted her new backpack out of the cart and somehow the cart tipped over on it's side (thankgoodness no one was in it) and the milk exploded EVERYWHERE. Well it is so INCREDIBLY hot and humid here that I just wanted to get home so we didn't go replace the milk. We have no air conditioning in the van so that makes it worse. When we got home Steve says "What did you do to the van????" Apparently the cart left a massive dent in the front. EEKS!! It has now been decided that when I get my diesel F350 that we'll just have to keep the van as a second vehicle because I've trashed it so much we'll never get anything for it! OOPS!

Lets see....what else....oh apparently my daughter's speech AND language is in the normal range!! The reason she is hard to understand sometimes is that she is missing her "s" and "sh" sounds. 2 of the most common used sounds in the Engligh language. Try it. If Kylie were to say "She sat on my skirt" You would hear "Dee tat on my Dirt." But she is anxious to learn her s so we are going to work hard on that this year and she'll be reassessed in 4 months if I don't see too big of an improvement. If her ears get cleared out then I expect we'll see a HUGE jump in her speech.

Here's my baby. She is having such a rough time without her 2 big naps a day. We are now going to work on getting back into a routine. She is getting up on her hands and feet and ALMOST stands up without holding on to anything. I think in a month or so she should be able to do it. I pulled out more clothes for her today and got all nostalgic and sad that this is the last time some of this stuff will get worn. I see why people say the last is spoiled. I love every moment of Chelsea's babyhood. It helps that she loves to burrow her head in and snuggle me.

Abby got a backpack today that is almost as big as her!! I refuse to buy a new one every year so this one will have to try and last until grade 2. Hayley's has lasted that long so hope this one will too. She is sooooo excited. I am excited for her....and a little sad. In a few short years I'll be all alone :(

Well...as time marches onward I am marching to bed. Tomorrow if it is this hot we are going to the splashpark. Come join us. It's free!! Except the cost of after swimming slurpees.

Oh and Steve is almost done at Camrose. His next project is building a house for an architect so you can imagin what the house is like. Very unique. It will be the first house in Edmonton to be run completely on solar power. I can't wait for him to be done out in Camrose.

Love you all

Jen